Evaluation Engineering - 11

According to Bob Stasonis, technical
product specialist at Pickering Interfaces,
"We do a little bit of everything. We have
worked on functional test applications
for many different avionics FRUs (field
replaceable units) including FADEC (full
authority digital electronic control) for
jet engines, cockpit instrumentation,
satellite testing, SDR (software defined
radios), flightline systems test for the
A-10, and even cable testing within an
aircraft fuselage."
Stasonis added, "Our extensive range
of switching and simulation products are
designed to work in many markets, aerospace being one of them. From a historical
perspective, FADEC testing was the application that got Pickering into the HILS
(hardware in the loop simulation) market.
Today, we have the broadest range of FI
(fault insertion) switch modules in the PXI
formfactor."
Stasonis continued, "As FRUs get more
complex, higher-density matrix switching becomes more critical for managing
more digital and analog I/O. Microwave
switching up to 67 GHz will become the
norm as even defense contractors are
looking to 5G communication for secure
data transmission and potentially robotic
surgery near the battlefront!"1 He added
that testing DAQ systems with thermocouples, RTDs, and other input types calls
for compact automated simulation such
as Pickering offers.

COTS for HIL
Bill Eccles, principal electrical engineer,
Alan Murphy, western US Sales manager,
and Peter Blume, president, all at Bloomy
Controls Inc., said, "Bloomy is the market
leader in providing complex, open platform, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
hardware in-the-loop (HIL) test systems
for airborne controls such as electronic
engine controls and full-authority digital
engine controls (EECs and FADECs), flight
control computers, collision-avoidance
systems, environmental controls, and
mission computer systems. We also provide high-channel-count, high-speed data
acquisition and closed-loop controls testing for systems integration labs (SILs) as
well as many line replaceable units (LRUs)
including electrohydraulic actuators and

They continued, "Bloomy provides
several industry-first modules and interconnection solutions for the National
Instruments (NI) Switch, Load, and Signal
Conditioning (SLSC) and compactRIO
platforms, which our customers can use
to speed test-system development using COTS components. These include an
8-channel high-precision thermocouple
simulation module, an 8-channel VDT/
resolver simulation module, an 8-channel load module, a ThroughPoint interface
panel, and a MIL-STD-1553B avionics bus
communications module."

Tactical communications

Bloomy Controls FADEC and ECC test platform.

controls, cockpit controls, and controlsurface actuators. In addition, we provide manufacturing automated testing
equipment for many of the electronic
assemblies that comprise these LRUs.
And Bloomy's MIL-STD-1553B communications solutions have been deployed
in over 200 systems worldwide."
Eccles, Murphy, and Blume said the
company offers a range of closed-loop/
hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test platforms that are customer-configured for
specific application spaces, including
FADECs/EECs, flight-control systems,
and environmental controls. "Each platform contains a basic complement of
simulation types which may be customized for the customer's control system
requirements," they said. "The Bloomy
Simulation Reference System provides
a launching point for other closed-loop/
HIL applications. Customers'
test engineers may use
these platforms and
systems to jump start
their test development cycles, thereby
shortening schedules,
reducing costs, and
freeing resources to focus on the differentiating technologies which
make their products unique
in the marketplace."

"At Astronics Test Systems (ATS), we participate in tactical communications and
avionics testing in addition to modernization efforts as they pertain to interoperability of allied and coalition defense
elements wherever they deploy," said
David Vondran, senior product marketing
manager at the company. "For example,
Link-16 is a mandate to bring different
generations of airborne platforms onto
a common communications network.
By doing so in a secure manner, aircraft,
ships, and ground forces can exchange
tactical information, in near-real time,
even in contested and congested environments. This level of communication
complexity requires a trusted test solution for manufacturing and maintenance
activities, which is where ATS excels."
Recent ATS solutions include the
new ATS-3100 VRS (VST-based Radio
Solution) for tactical communications
Astronics Test Systems ATS-3100 VRS (VSTbased Radio Solution) for tactical communications
test.

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Evaluation Engineering

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